


Modal verbs

by bored_blogger



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26407969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bored_blogger/pseuds/bored_blogger
Summary: "He thinks how heshouldn’tkiss her, and hecan’ttouch her tongue with his, because it’s not allowed, he doesn’t allow himself to do it."
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Modal verbs

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you discover you have a seven-year-old fic archived at A Teaspoon and An Open Mind, and you decide to import it to AO3 for posterity.

  
It’s an ordinary morning in his, frankly, anything but ordinary spaceship with his, undoubtedly, extraordinary companion. It’s one of these mornings when they’re casually drinking tea, eating breakfast and discussing various things. It’s one of these mornings when he is listing the reasons why they shouldn’t move their relationships to the next level. To the snogging level and shagging level and I-have-all-the-rights-to-be-jealous level.  
  
She is babbling about something Jackie said to her the last time they visited. Words escape her mouth and _oh, her mouth_. He is staring, but she seems oblivious, enthusiastically telling him a story about Jackie’s new bloke. Or the guy who wanted to be her bloke but did something wrong, and Rose is telling him now what was that, and he really should listen to her and stop staring at her lips. He forces himself to raise his eyes to see her whole face and not only a part of it. Thoughts of snogging and shagging don’t seem to go away. If anything, they become even more prominent.  
  
“What’s up?” she asks and he realizes with the start that she has already stopped talking and he has missed the ending of the story.  
  
“Uh?” He pretends to be eating biscuit to explain his lack of response.  
  
“What’s going on in this big brain of yours?” She smiles at him.  
  
“I’ll let you know, that my brain is not just big, it’s grand.” He gladly seizes the opportunity to distract her. “The easier question is ‘What’s _not_ going on in my frankly magnificent brain?’”  
  
“Whatever.” She giggles. “But I’m still more interested in the things that _are_ in your very impressive brain”.  
  
“Modal verbs,” he blurts out.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Modal verbs,” he repeats. “They are used to express the modality of the statement”.  
  
“And what’s so fascinating about them?”  
  
“Oh, lots of things! You use them to express ability, possibility, probability, logical assumption, permission, requests, offers, suggestions, advice, criticism, obligation, prohibition, necessity! Save you a lot of time, these handy little words.”  
  
She is amused by his babble and gives him her tongue-touched grin. And here he goes again. He thinks how he _shouldn’t_ kiss her, and he _can’t_ touch her tongue with his, because it’s not allowed, he doesn’t allow himself to do it, and he _mustn’t_ fuck her right now on this table, then in her bedroom, then in his bedroom, then on every available surface, because it’s surely forbidden, and if there’s no law against it, he _should_ carve it in stone, just to have a reminder.  
  
“Okay.” She nods to herself and he can sense that he’s in trouble. “Can you demonstrate?”  
  
“Demonstrate what?”  
  
“How these ‘handy little words’ can save me a lot of time.”  
  
“Of course.” He is not sure where she’s going with this, but if it keeps his thoughts out of making out with her, he is in.  
  
“Let’s start with _the logical assumption_ ,” she says smiling. “I think you were not thinking about modal verbs, because you had a way too dreamy facial expression for that.”  
  
“You think…” he starts but she interrupts him.  
  
“There’s no fun this way! Drop the ‘you think’ part.”  
  
“I _couldn’t_ have thought about modal verbs.” His face is carefully blank.  
  
“Good. I think you were trying to distract me by this linguistic babble.”  
  
“I _must_ ’ve been trying to distract you.”  
  
“Oh, I’m starting to like it! Now… I think, no, I’m making a _logical assumption_ based on my observations that you were thinking about kissing me.”  
  
He swallows.  
  
He says nothing.  
  
“Well, I think it sounds like ‘you _must_ ’ve been thinking about kissing me’. And shagging me. Am I right?”  
  
She smiles at him cheekily, like she caught him into her trap. And he’s got to admit, she did. She is asking several questions in one, and, of course, she is right, she is right about everything, every question, every bloody assumption.  
  
He remains silent.  
  
She takes it as a ‘yes’.  
  
“Okay, now I have a _suggestion_ for you. _Shall_ we do less thinking and more snogging?”  
  
All the thoughts about _prohibition_ and laws carved in stone, (possibly, grammatical, about modal verbs) are wreaking havoc in his head and all tumble down because of her _suggestion_.  
  
“We can do it,” he says finally, surprising himself with his sudden _ability_.  
  
And now it’s a different smile she gives him, the same that greeted him when he returned in his than-new pinstriped armor to have Christmas dinner with her family. It’s a hope and a relief and giddiness. His smile matches hers. For a few moments they sit like this, goofy smiles on their faces, table with the cold breakfast between them.  
  
He snaps first. For a man who several minutes ago didn’t want even to admit the _possibility_ of this happening, he is suddenly full of _willingness_ to make his dreams real.  
  
He does.  
  
And again.  
  
And again.  
  
The idea of fucking her on the kitchen table changes to the reality of fucking her in _their_ bed in _their_ room instead of _his_ or _hers_ , and they come to love possessive pronouns nearly as much as modal verbs.  


* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>   
> This story archived at <http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=52324>


End file.
